While many Americans are dogging the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) over its apparent hesitation to indict Trump and others responsible for inciting the insurrection at the nation’s Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, the DOJ is busy fighting an eternal battle with the House panel investigating Jan. 6 over access to documents related to five Proud Boys recently charged with seditious conspiracy.
According to reporting from Politico, the DOJ is demanding the panel hand over transcripts from their 1,000 witness investigations.
In a letter signed Wednesday by Criminal Division Chief Kenneth Polite Jr. and National Security Division Head Matthew Olsen, as well as the U.S. Attorney for D.C. Matthew Graves, the DOJ wrote that the panel’s “failure” to hand over the documents “complicates the Department’s ability to investigate and prosecute those who engaged in criminal conduct in relation to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.”
RELATED STORY: Former assistant U.S. attorney for Department of Justice says DOJ won’t indict Trump on ‘theory’
The Washington Post writes that the letter is the latest in an ongoing fight between the DOJ and the Jan. 6 committee. Prosecutors have charged more than 820 people with crimes related to the insurrection, but the Jan. 6 committee’s goal is to connect the dots between the attack and former President Donald Trump.
We talk to expert Brandi Buchman about everything you need to know for the Jan. 6 committee, hearings, and investigation on Daily Kos' The Brief podcast
Campaign Action
“We’re in the midst of conducting our hearing. … We have a report to do. So, we’re not going to stop what we’re doing to share information that we’ve gotten so far with the Department of Justice,” Thompson said. “We will eventually cooperate with them,” The House committee chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson, has said.
“I can’t think of any good excuse from the committee’s perspective. … You would think the committee would want to be as cooperative as possible,” Randall Eliason, a former federal prosecutor, told the Post. Eliason added that the DOJ could subpoena for the records, but he doubts they want to do that.
The five Proud Boys are scheduled to go on trial in September. The Post reports that the DOJ’s letter was included in documents from the prosecution to delay the trial due to the panel’s refusal to hand over the transcripts.
“It is now readily apparent that the interviews the Select Committee conducted are not just potentially relevant to our overall criminal investigations but are likely relevant to specific prosecutions that have already commenced,” the letter reads.
The Proud Boys’ defense attorneys claim the public hearings could influence a jury, jeopardizing a fair trial of their clients, and are also demanding the committee hand over all of its records.
“The words, sound bites, and images of June 9 will influence some jurors who reside here in the District of Columbia,” wrote Joseph Biggs, attorney for John Hull, the Post reports.
Meanwhile, Politico reports committee members are complaining about the slow action on the DOJ’s part in pursuing a criminal case against Trump and his inner circle. Join the club.
In the most recent public hearing from the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, viewers learned details about the pressure campaign on former Vice President Mike Pence and others in the White House from Donald Trump and his lawyer, John Eastman.